1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to vehicle mirror assemblies, and more particularly, to a pivoting detent joint for an exterior vehicle rearview mirror that includes a wear compensator to maintain proper rotational resistance of the support arm on the carrier base to prevent unwanted movement of the mirror assembly.
2) Description of Related Art
Rearview mirror assemblies for vehicles, particularly for commercial trucks, exist in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. These various mirror assemblies include many different arrangements for mounting the mirror assemblies on the vehicles. On large, commercial vehicles, such as trucks and buses, a mirror head which contains the actual mirrors is mounted on a support arm that extends the mirror head out from the side of the vehicle, thereby providing a clear view of different areas around the vehicle. A typical mounting arrangement includes the mirror head carried by the support arm which is mounted to a carrier base affixed to the vehicle body.
A pivot joint may be included in the support arm and carrier base assembly to make it possible to swivel the support arm to position the mirror head at a preferred viewing position, and to move the mirror head from an operational position into a storage position essentially folded alongside the vehicle. The pivot joints are typically designed using a detent arrangement to hold the support arm in one of several operational or storage positions. However, the pivot joint and detent systems known in the prior art can suffer from significant wear issues that loosen the joint and detent resistance to secure the support arm in a desired position, eventually leading to a loose, shaky and unusable mirror assembly that can fail completely.
A substantial problem with external vehicle rearview mirrors, particularly in the case of commercial vehicles, is the occurrence of vibration. First, vibration can negatively affect the use of the mirror, and second, vibration of the mirror can lead to damage due to fatigue for nearly every component in the mirror assembly. Over time, wear caused by wind and road vibrations can loosen the pivot joint connections between the support arm and carrier base. In many cases, after only minimal wear has occurred on a large mirror assembly for a commercial vehicle, excessive mirror shaking can develop in the assembly that significantly reduces the effective use of the mirror and the ability of the support arm to hold the mirror head in a desired position.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a pivoting detent joint for a mirror assembly with wear compensation to resist loosening of the connection between components due to wear from wind and road vibrations.